Amid massive whale accumulation, PENGU’s market cap soared to $2.5 billion, briefly becoming the fourth-largest memecoin by market cap.
On Thursday, renowned NFT collection-tied cryptocurrency Pudgy Penguins PENGU $0.00900 24h volatility: 1.7% Market cap: $567.33 M Vol. 24h: $155.05 M garnered major attention on social media following a sharp increase in value. The token surged to $0.43 amid a wave of whale accumulations, pushing its market cap to $2.5 billion.
As a result, PENGU surpassed rivals like BONK $0.000019 24h volatility: 17.9% Market cap: $1.46 B Vol. 24h: $707.73 M and WIF $0.65 24h volatility: 1.9% Market cap: $653.65 M Vol. 24h: $471.01 M to briefly become the fourth-largest memecoin by market cap, according to CoinMarketCap. At the time of writing, the token is fighting with BONK to secure the spot of the largest Solana-based meme coin.
Recent on-chain activity reveals that earlier today, a prominent whale exchanged 500,000 ai16z tokens, valued at $412,000, for PENGU. Over the last eight days, this investor has poured $2.47 million into accumulating 79.9 million tokens, resulting in unrealized profits of $835,000.
A whale who made $9.5M on $ai16z exchanged 500K $ai16z($412K) for $PENGU again 2 hours ago.
This whale initially spent $1.15M to buy 14.08M $ai16z and sold 7.87M $ai16z for $5.57M, leaving 6.21M $ai16z($5.08M). #ai16z
Over the past 8 days, the whale has spent $2.47M to buy… pic.twitter.com/IDZt5VeAQ1
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 26, 2024
Similarly, another whale, who initially received an airdrop of 116.7 million PENGU tokens at launch, increased their holdings on December 24. The tokens, originally valued at $394,000, are now worth $4.4 million following a 670% price surge since launch. This whale also purchased an additional 34.42 million tokens, spending $1 million in Solana SOL $149.2 24h volatility: 2.0% Market cap: $77.24 B Vol. 24h: $3.08 B , bringing their total holdings to over 151 million tokens.
Meanwhile, PENGU’s listing on Bithumb further fueled demand, particularly among South Korean investors, who are eagerly anticipating an upcoming airdrop event.
PENGU Price Volatility
Since its launch on December 17, PENGU has displayed remarkable but volatile price action. On its debut, the token skyrocketed nearly 500%, reaching a peak of $0.05738. However, this surge was short-lived, as the price dropped to $0.031 within 24 hours—a 55% decline. Amid these dramatic fluctuations, savvy traders reported significant profits, with some earning as much as $8.36 million in mere minutes.
Over the past week, PENGU’s price has stabilized, trading between $0.033 and $0.039. Thursday’s whale-driven rally saw the token rise 18% to a local peak of $0.043 before undergoing a correction. PENGU is currently trading at $0.03899, up 3% in the past 24 hours.
Adding to the excitement, Luca Netz, CEO and owner of the Pudgy Penguins NFT project, hosted festive “Pudgy Penguins Christmas Huddles” across Asia. These events spanned Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, and Oceania, showcasing the project’s expanding community reach and commitment to fostering global engagement.
Despite its inherent volatility, PENGU has achieved noteworthy milestones, including surpassing 500,000 holders as of December 22. Meanwhile, the broader memecoin market saw a downturn on Thursday, with the market cap of top memecoins dropping 5% to $94.5 billion. Trading volume also declined by 20%, underscoring the contrasting dynamics within the space.
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